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Tuesday, 3 April 2012

The Essential Guide to Creating and Cloning Virtual Machine Images

The Essential Guide to Creating and Cloning Virtual Machine Images

As you probably know by now, Microsoft-based operating systems use SIDs
(Security IDs) that are generated as part of the initial setup of Windows. If
you have more than one computer with the same SID, this could cause problems,
and cloning a computer (either physical or virtual) without re-generating this
SID can cause SID duplication. Please read the following article if you need to
learn more about this issue:

you can use PsGetSid
(by Microsoft Sysinternals) to find out if you're using computers with duplicate
SIDs:

Have you performed a rollout, only to discover that your network might suffer
from the SID duplication problem? In order to know which systems have to be
assigned a new SID (using a SID updater like our own NewSID), you have to know
what a computer's machine SID is. Up until now, there's been no way to tell the
machine SID without knowing Regedit tricks and exactly where to look in the
Registry. PsGetSid makes reading a computer's SID easy, and works across the
network so that you can query SIDs remotely. PsGetSid also lets you see the SIDs
of user accounts and translate a SID into the name that represents
it.

Assumptions

This guide assumes that you’ve got some sort of virtualization infrastructure
in place – this could be a VMware product, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XEN and so
on. It also assumes that you’ve got some sort of virtualization management tool,
and a library where you store all the virtual machine templates and master
images. This guide is not product specific.
In addition, it's important that you have a basic knowledge about how to set
up and run your virtualization product, that you are knowledgeable about setting
up virtual machines, and about the proper procedure to install and configure a
Windows-based operating system on these virtual machines.
Lastly, this guide assumes that you’re knowledgeable about the proper
procedures needed to be taken prior to creating a virtual machine clone, how to
use SYSPREP (the system preparation tool from Microsoft), and how to create
proper answer files for the preparation procedure.Note: SYSPREP is a tool that prepares an installation of
Windows for duplication, auditing, and customer delivery.To download SYSPREP for Windows Server 2003/R2 and Windows XP, please
use one of these links:
Download details: System Preparation tool for Windows Server 2003 SP2
Deployment
Download details: System Preparation tool for Windows Server 2003 SP2 Deployment
(x64)
Download details: Windows XP Service Pack 3 Deployment ToolsNote that in Windows Server 2008/R2,Windows Vista/7
– the SYSPREP tool is already included in the operating system,
therefore there’s no need to download it.
To create the proper answer file under Windows Server 2003/R2 and Windows XP,
you need to either manually edit an existing SYSPREP.INF file, or create one for
your needs. To create a SYSPREP.INF answer file for Windows Server 2003/R2 and
Windows XP you can use the SETUPMGR.EXE tool found inside the Deployment Tools.
Use the above links to get the proper version for your needs.
To create the proper answer file under Windows Server 2008/R2, Windows
Vista/7, you need to either manually edit an existing answer file, or create one
for your needs. . To create an answer file for Windows Server 2008/R2, Windows
Vista/7, you must use the tools available in the Windows Automated Installation
Kit (AIK).
Download details: Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK)

Preparing the System for Cloning

Prior to cloning the virtual machine there are several steps that you must
accomplish. For example, some of the preparation tasks should include:
Note that unlike cloning physical machines, since we will be cloning virtual
machines, there is not hardware abstraction layer that we need to worry about,
no mass storage devices, and no other devices that need to be detected and
installed.

Log on to the computer as an administrator.

Install and customize applications, such as Microsoft Office, Internet
Explorer favorite items, and so on.

Create the SYSPREP.inf Answer File for Windows Server 2003/XP

The SYSPREP.inf answer file is a text file that scripts the answers for a
series of graphical user interface dialog boxes.Instead of having t0 manually
enter the computer's product ID, accept the license agreement, choose regional
settings, enter a password, owner and computer name and so on, you can script
everything inside one small text file that will provide the mini-setup wizard
that runs after the computer is cloned and rebooted, with the correct
answers.

To create a SYSPREP.inf answer file that is used by the SYSPREP tool, you can
use a text editor or you can use the Setup Manager tool that is included on the
Windows XP CD and is also included with the Microsoft Windows XP Resource Kit.
The answer file must be renamed to SYSPREP.inf, and must reside in the SYSPREP
folder in the root of the drive where Windows XP is installed, or these files
can reside on a floppy disk. If the SYSPREP folder is named differently, the
Setup program ignores it. There is no need to specify any parameter for the
Mini-Setup Wizard answer file.
After preparing the answer file, run the SYSPREP tool from the C:\SYSPREP
folder:
Select the “Use Mini Setup” and then click on “Reseal”:
The computer will shut down. At that moment, if it’s a physical computer –
take out the hard drive and use any cloning mechanism that you may have (i.e.
Ghost etc.). If it’s a virtual machine, either use existing virtualization tools
such as System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), or simply copy the VHD
file. When using virtual machines, you will need to create the settings for an X
number of cloned virtual machines, and then simply connect them to the copied
VHD files.
After starting up each cloned machine, if the answer file has been properly
created, you will need to enter the computer name and the entire process will
automatically run.
Now, you can verify your computer's SID with PsGetSID.
How to use the Sysprep tool to automate successful deployment of Windows XPhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/302577

Create the UNATTEND.xml Answer File for Windows Server 2008/Vista/7

Unlike previous versions, the unattended Windows Setup answer file in Windows
Server 2008/Vista/7, is an XML file typically called Unattend.xml. This is the
answer file for Windows Setup that is created by using Windows System Image
Manager (Windows SIM). The answer file enables the configuration of default
Windows settings, as well as the addition of drivers, software updates, and
other applications. The answer file enables OEMs and corporations to customize
Windows Setup tasks, for example, specifying disk configuration, changing the
default values for Internet Explorer, and installing additional drivers.
Unlike previous versions, the unattended Windows Setup answer file in Windows
Server 2008/Vista/7 needs to be specified during the running of SYSPREP. To do
so, run the SYSPREP tool with the /unattend:filename option.
If you wish to manually configure the Windows settings after SYSPREP, run
SYSPREP from the C:\Windows\System32\sysprep folder:
Make sure you do NOT FORGET to select the “Generalize” option if you need to
change the computer's SID. Unlike previous versions, it seems that this version
will NOT change the SID unless you pick that option!!! When done, click on
“OK”:
Select the “Shutdown” and then click on “OK”:
The computer will shut down. Like in the previous section, if this is a
physical computer – take out the hard drive and use any cloning mechanism that
you may have. If it’s a virtual machine, either use existing virtualization
tools such as System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), or simply copy the
VHD file. When using virtual machines, you will need to create the settings for
an X number of cloned virtual machines, and then simply connect them to the
copied VHD files.

After starting up each cloned machine, if no answer file has been created,
you will be prompted to configure the computer name and some other settings. Of
course, creating an answer file will greatly ease this process, and the entire
process will automatically run.
Now, you can verify your computer's SID with PsGetSID and you're done!
Download: PsGetSid